AUTHENTIC GREEK RECIPES - THE BOOK

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I wanted to write something about the education system here in Greece. It seems to me so ironic - tragic, even - that the country that produced some of the greatest minds in history, and, in Socrates, one of the greatest teachers, should now have one of the poorest educational systems in the developed world.

Socrates would be turning in his grave faster than a lamb at Greek Easter!

To help his students find answers to their questions, he would, in turn, ask them questions so that they could use their own minds to find the answers themselves.

Nowadays, in Greece, schools just encourage pupils and students to learn things parrot-fashion. It is extremely rare to find teachers helping pupils to learn how to learn. For exam questions, you are required to regurgitate specific paragraphs or pages in order to get the marks - not to express yourself in such a way as to show that you have actually understood something.

To this end, the state also dictates exactly which books schools should use and doesn't leave it to the schools themselves to decide what would be best to cover the curriculum. Pupils don't even do scientific experiments themselves! In no way are they encouraged to discover things for themselves or to learn to think for themselves.

This has enormous repercussions on society and on the way it functions. People have grown up not to question or think for themselves, and leads to the dearth of innovative thinking and even basic common sense!

It really is such a "Greek" tragedy that a country which - quite rightly - is proud of its heritage from the great minds of 2500 years ago, should now be so lacking in thought and innovation.

Socrates was condemned to death for what he did. I think we should now be saying, "Come back Socrates! All is forgiven!"